Osaka
Erin Jones Joined: June 11th 2007
Logged in: March 31st 2011
Logged in: March 31st 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Plane to Taveuni
Day 9, Wednesday, June 3rd This was a long day of travel. Ferry ride to taxi ride to airport, where we loaded onto a small sea plane type vehicle. Then that plane made one stop before arriving on the island of Taveuni. Then shuttle ride about 45 minutes to our resort...yes, resort it was. The place was so big and white and clean with modern seating and hammocks. There was a pool and what we thought was a hot tub, but just a kiddie pool I suppose. Caitlin and I shared a room, since the hotel got rid of their dorms and we jumped up and down at how clean and cool it was with a good size balcony overlooking the sea. We got our bathings suits on because we thought the pool had a hot ... read more
We arrived!
Wowzas! What a great time I had in Fiji. I'm now in Byron Bay, Australia, but wanted to send over some updates. Internet was a little hard to come by, or a fast connection anyway, so I'll do my best to rehash the past for ya. It's been a whirlwind of fun. Day 1 (5/26): We travel about 22 hours from Austin, TX and arrive in Mana about 9 or 10am. Immediately we relax with a beer. Caitlin relaxes at our hostel's beachside picnic tables and I played volleyball. Immediately everyone is so welcoming and friendly. I met a super nice German, Ben and an English girl, Rebecca. She introduces me to a few of her other friends and the train of friend meeting continues. Caitlin heads to be early and I stay up and watch ... read more
Gecko outside our rental
May 30, 2008 - I can't believe I'm just now posting these pictures. The trip happened back in March, but it's taken me awhile to pic my top 200 pictures, to load all the pictures onto the site, tag them and rearrange. I would have just loaded them into Kodak Gallery or something, but I had already written this blog, so I didn't want it to go to waste! This is more of a blog site than a picture site, so I'll probably need to move to a different website that's easier for me to load so many pics onto - if anyone has any recommendations - let me know! Maybe I just need my own site.... Anywaysssss - I had an amazing time in Kauai - it's one of the most beautiful places I have ... read more
Sarakiniko beach
The ride over to Milos was an interesting experience to say the least. We bought our tickets late, so there was only a slow speed boat available and “seats” on the cabin deck, really meant outside with no seats. There were a few plastic seats stacked in the corner, so Caitlin grabbed one and we tried to get a spot in the shade. I blew up the pillow part of the floatie I bought in Mykonos and laid down on the ground on it and tried to sleep. The boat was dirty and all the bathroom toilets had poop in them because the plumbing was so weak. It was just a gross ride. Regardless of the trip there, we were nicely welcomed with another “Erin Jones” sign at the port town of Milos. The taxi driver ... read more
Oia
Hi all! I'm back in the U.S. of A. Things have been crazy with work, and travelblog.org crashed right as I posted my last blog, so the first Greek Island we visited, Mykonos, will take me a little while to recover again. Until then, I've gone ahead and posted my Santorini blog. It was our second Greek Island and a great one at that. I think I wrote the text on the plane ride home. Please enjoy! July 21-24 - Santorini OH MY GOSH! Words cannot describe how amazing this place is. Thank you, Robin, for all your recommendations! I’m so glad we decided to stay in Oia, the most Northern town and high up on the caldera. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Santorini, it is a HUGE volcano, an explosion occurred in ... read more
July 15-18 Amsterdam was perfect. We’d just come from chaotic Bastille Day/Paris, so it was a perfect spot to take a minute to relax and slow down. We arrived by train and found our hotel within walking distance. I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW EXCITED we were to be in a hotel room after weeks of hostels. It was simply AWESOME. I never thought I’d be so excited to stay in a hotel room. The location was great - very central, clean towels (a dry one all to myself since Caitlin and I had been sharing), there were helpful hands at the front desk, free maps, an excellent breakfast, etc. The first night we walked through the central part of town by the Dam (which I found out is not a dam, but a building) and crossed ... read more
RECOVERED
July 6-9: LONDON Okay, so as everyone might have expected, the moving every three nights (from hostels none the less), has started to wear on Caitlin and I. That and the continuous, absolute non-stop walking has left our ankles swollen and angry with us. Even still, Caitlin and I have had some superior experiences in each major city. From Barcelona we headed to London. The weather was a bit dreary on the day we arrived, but the sky opened up for the rest of our time there. You would think arriving back into an English speaking country, we would not get lost…HA!...the street our hostel was on changed names 5 times before we arrived at the right leg of the street, and the yahoo-map we printed out had the arrow for our final destination in ... read more
RECOVERED
Where oh where do I begin? So much fun has been had. The Palio Festival was a spectacle if I’ve ever seen one. The Sienese (or people who live in Siena) are soooo serious about this yearly horse race. There are 17 districts in Siena, each one with a chosen representative or rider who competes in the Palio Festival, held in the main plaza of Siena. Only 10 districts are chosen via lottery to compete, and over 40,000 people squeeze into the inner circle of where the horses race. The outer ring consists of old buildings which circle the plaza and offer a better view if you want to pay. The race was at 8pm, but we had to show up at 5pm to make sure we could get a position near the edge of ... read more
Florence Duomo
Yesterday after the beautiful breakfast in Florence, we headed out to explore Florence a bit more before the train back to Milan. We climbed the 470 steps up to the top of the Duomo, which offered a great panoramic view of the city. The church was very detailed from the inside out. My favorite fresco so far was the “Last Judgment” spiraled onto the dome’s ceiling here, by Federico Zuccari and Giorgio Vasari. Then, we headed to see the David which was a bit chaotic, but within an hour we were inside viewing the huge sculpture by Michelangelo. Absolutely loved it. Brilliant work. There was a guide nearby talking about the symbolic use of big hands and head or hair to symbolize how David beat Goliath with the strength of his mind and bare hands, ... read more
Amalfi Coast
June 27th, 2007 Amalfi is a happening place. While we’re here they are celebrating St. Andrews. Canons are fired up into the air from a boat in front of the port every morning and evening. This morning they started at 6:30 am and they were so loud, I swear my bed shook. It’s seriously insane how loud they are. Tonight there’s going to be fireworks and we’ve got a bottle of bubbly chilling in our mini-bar fridge for the celebration. We took a trip up to Ravello today. The town of music stands 360 meters above the ocean. The views were spectacular. There’s a garden we strolled through, churches, lemonchello factories, the orchestra/music venue that stands on the edge of the cliff and more. I would have loved to see some music there. There’s a ... read more
